Warren Gatland was a no-nonsense hooker in his playing days with Waikato and New Zealand.

But the Wales coach produced a sidestep worthy of Welsh fly-half legend Phil Bennett when he was asked to pass comment on the return of veteran forwards Victor Matfield, 37, Bakkies Botha, 34, and Schalk Burger, 31, to the Springboks team.

South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer's policy of recalling highly-experienced veterans of South Africa's 2007 World Cup victory led a local reporter to ask Gatland whether he would call this Bok's pack 'Dad's Army'.

Laughing, Gatland replied: "No . . . no I wouldn't."

So the headline got away and Gatland mounted a reasoned defence of Meyer's decision - one which is dividing opinion from the Western Cape to Northern Transvaal.

We haven't come down here to make up the numbers

Wales coach Warren Gatland

"The average age is 29, and if you look back at the history of World Cups that's kind of been the average age of the teams that have traditionally won," said Gatland.

"In fairness to Meyer those are players that he knows personally.

"He's worked with them for a long time and he's gone back to players that he trusts and players that have performed and delivered for him and you can't argue with that.

"There's a lot of people out there sort of questioning the older players coming back and [saying] there should be a lot more faith put in youth.

"But it's his prerogative to pick players that he wants.

"And [these are] players that have won World Cups and Super Rugby titles and Tri-Nations titles as well. You can't argue with what they've achieved."

Wales face the Springboks in Test matches at Durban on 14 June and Nelspruit on 21 June.